Belgian Endive Salad

Step 1: Toasting the Walnuts

Place the walnuts onto an un-greased tray and toast for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden brown. Once the walnuts are toasted, set aside to cool completely.

1/2 cup walnuts

Step 2: Preparing the Vinaigrette

Peel and roughly chop the shallots. Place into a bowl. Add the mustard salt, white pepper, a pinch of sugar and the vinegar. Whisk everything together. Slowly whisk in the oil until everything is incorporated.

Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the flavor from the shallots to infuse the vinaigrette. Strain out the shallots. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if needed. Set aside at room temperature, until ready to serve.

1 shallot

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp white pepper

1/4 tsp sugar

3 tbsp champagne or white wine vinegar

6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Step 3: Finishing the Salad

To assemble the salad, start by gathering your plates and preparing all of the remaining ingredients.

Remove the seeds from the dates and slice into quarters. Crumble the blue cheese into small pieces. Cut the ends off the endive, and peel away the larger outer leaves. The smaller inside leaves you can save for another salad.

Working in layers, place two leaves onto a plate. Then place a few pieces of the dates, walnuts and blue cheese inside each leaf. Drizzle a little bit of the dressing over each leaf. Repeat with another layer: 2 endive leaves, dates, walnuts and blue cheese. Lastly, drizzle a bit more of the vinaigrette over top and finish with a little freshly-ground black pepper. Serve.

8 whole, fresh dates

2 oz blue cheese (1/3 cup)

5 whole Belgian endives

Notes

This salad is best prepared last minute; otherwise, the endive will turn brown.

Delicate flavors that pack a mini-punch.

It's a wonderful small salad to start of a summer meal. I love belgian endives, walnuts and blue cheese but the piece de' resistance' was the dressing. It was to die for... I made it the night before my Mother's day dinner party and it had time to combine and mature. So good! Plus the way the delicate leaves and little droplets of dates, nuts and blue cheese looks so elegant and yet it was so easy - just remember to maybe have someone else watch the nuts roasting while you are cooking an extravagent feast. They were a little crispy ;)

Super Summer Salad

This is so delicious. Inspired by an appetizer from Seasons in the Park in Vancouver. Don't be afraid by the Belgium Endive. Even people that have told me that they don't like Endive, have loved this salad.

So Fantastic

Fabulous Finger Food

My guests were so intrigued by this salad that they insisted on "helping" which meant that they joined me in the kitchen, assembled and ate each delicious leaf as they created them. They loved the flavors that, once combined, were absolutely addictive. Thank you for an incredibly simple, fabulous salad.

French Tacos

I Finally Found a Way to Like Endive

Thanks for these "French Tacos". I normally find endive too bitter to enjoy, however, you can't go wrong with the combination of blue cheese and walnuts. It's one of my favorites, so I thought I'd give it a try. The dates add a nice touch of sweetness. It's a great combination of flavors, with the endive offering a nice, crunchy texture.

deserves it's rating

Wow, this was so good and deserves it 100% rating. Only change I made was to use pecans as hubby doesn't like walnuts. We have salad every evening and this was a great change. I will be serving this salad for sure at my next dinner party. Thanks Dawn for another great recipe.

Thanks

So glad you like them. I have to say they are one of my favorites as well. I have nicknamed them "French Tacos"...

I love to make them for people, just to see the look on their faces when they bite into them. Everyone is usually around when I am assembling them and they are always so surprised as to how easy and tasty they are.

Endive

Soup and salad

I made the salad and coconut squash soup for a progressive diner for 6 of our Neighbours here in Canada, and would like to say it was a great success! Also like to say thank you for the great recipes and lessons, it has taken my cooking to a great new level, thanks again.

Re: Amazing

O-o-oh, the flavor!

O-o-o-h, what a wonderful flavor and different taste each item brings out! The Dijon Vinaigrette (we used white wine) is perfect for this. Each bite is a different experience. We have has this three times this week! This recipe will be one of my top ten, for sure.

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